PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER Wednesday, April 6, 1994 Page: B01 Edition: FINAL Section: LOCAL Graphics: PHOTO MARKS' AIDES CALLED TO TESTIFY FOR STINSON THE TWO ADMITTED THAT THEY VOTED IMPROPERLY. THEY SAID THEY WEREN'T AWARE THEY WERE DOING SO AT THE TIME. By Henry Goldman, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER They represented just two out of hundreds who cast illegal absentee ballots in last fall's Second Senate District election, but these two were special, because they had voted for Republican Bruce S. Marks. Jennifer Zeamer and S. Kelly Glazier were high-level Marks campaign workers. They had taken leaves of absence from the staffs of two Republican state senators to work as fund-raisers for Marks' Senate bid. Yesterday, they found themselves in roles they never imagined last fall, as witnesses called to help make the case for Democrat William G. Stinson and the city Board of Elections, who Marks says worked together to steal the election from him. If they had known then what they know now, Zeamer and Glazier testified, they never would have applied for those absentee ballots; never would have voted from an apartment they leased for a month; never would have checked the box on the ballot application that stated "out-of-the-county" on Election Day. Inside the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Clarence C. Newcomer, Marks and his lawyers have decried such illegal conduct. They say Stinson gathered so many votes like this that the election should be set aside, and Marks declared the winner. Glazier, 23, a legislative aide to State Sen. Joseph Loeper (R., Delaware), and Zeamer, 25, an administrative assistant to State Sen. Richard Tilghman (R., Montgomery), are two of five paid Republican workers for Marks who cast absentee ballots last fall. All five worked for Marks in Northeast Philadelphia's Second Senate District that day. Newcomer must decide whether Marks would have won if no fraud had occurred. If he finds that voter confidence cannot be satisfied by installing Marks as senator, he may decide to order a new election. He must also consider whether absentee voters who were misled into voting that way are innocent victims of the fraud whose votes - although illegal - should be counted. A federal appeals court has also asked him to consider whether these illegal absentee voters would have gone to the polls if they had not been misled into casting an improper absentee ballot. "I thought I'd be able to vote absentee because I'd be at work all day," Glazier said. She was wrong. Absentee ballots are permitted only when a voter is unable to get to the polls, or out of the city on business. Voting also requires legal residency. "You thought your vote was valid, did you not?" asked A. Charles Peruto Sr., who represents city commissioners Chairwoman Margaret Tartaglione. "You innocently thought you were voting properly? And for that reason, you think your vote should count?" "I think the court has ruled otherwise," Glazier replied, referring to Newcomer's decision in February that the illegally gathered votes should be thrown out. "I didn't know at the time I had done anything wrong." A key part of Marks' case has been his use of 1,250 questionnaires, based upon interviews his campaign conducted with absentee voters in the weeks after the election. A statistics expert hired by Marks has analyzed the survey and concluded that it shows Marks would have won had the election been clean. Ultimately, it will be up to Newcomer to decide whether the hundreds of questionnaires provide a reliable sample upon which to decide whether Marks really won last fall's election. Peruto and Stinson attorney Ralph J. Teti used Zeamer's and Glazier's testimony to attack the reliability of the survey, noting that the two women were among those who conducted the survey interviews. The women both testified that they took an objective survey, asking each voter the questions on the interview sheet and writing down the precise answers. Some of the questions dealt with whether the voter was really out of the city if that's what the voter had claimed on the ballot application - just as Zeamer and Glazier had falsely claimed on their ballot applications. "Would it be fair to say you concentrated your efforts on Democrats who would be likely voters for Stinson?" Peruto asked Zeamer. She said she interviewed 104 voters, Democrats and Republicans, taken from a master list of all absentee ballot voters. "Did you ever think about putting in a questionnaire for yourself?" he asked. No, Zeamer replied. Caption: PHOTO (3) 1. S. Kelly Glazier (left) and Jennifer Zeamer after giving testimony in a federal courtroom on last fall's Second Senate District election. The two were high-level campaign workers for Bruce S. Marks. (A02) 2. S. Kelly Glazier (left) and Jennifer Zeamer testified that they improperly cast absentee votes for their boss, Bruce S. Marks. (The Philadelphia Inquirer / SHARON J. WOHLMUTH) 3. Also on the witness stand yesterday was Charles Bernard, a Board of Elections clerk. He was shown and questioned about ballot cards. (The Philadelphia Inquirer / SHARON J. WOHLMUTH) Copyright 1994 PHILADELPHIA NEWSPAPERS INC. May not be reprinted without permission.